Al Franken: Mean-Spirited Jerk

I'm reading Live From New York right now, the book about the behind-the-scenes activities on Saturday Night Live as told by the performers, writers, and producers. What's been amazing so far is just how much of an ass Al Franken proves to be.

Take this story for instance:

I heard Spiro Agnew was going to be on Tom Snyder's show, so I just wanted to meet him and harass him a little bit. I brought a tape recorder and went down to their studios on six. Agnew was in the makeup room, so I sat down in the next makeup chair as he was getting made up and a I said something like, "You called student protesters bums, and aren't you the bum"--I think that's what I said--"because you took money?" And he just said, "I never called them bums. That was Nixon." It was like beneath his dignity to address this kid with long hair and to spend too much time on it.

I thought I'd pressed the button to start the tape recorder, but I didn't. I'd had it on and turned it off or something. SO I didn't get it on tape. And then nI also felt stupid because I checked it out and I was wrong: Nixon had called students bums. At least I did get to say to Agnew that he was a bum.

So, the jerk thinks that Agnew owed his rude behavior more than a courteous answer. He doesn't bother to apologize for being wrong, just gloat that he got to call Agnew a bum.

Al really hasn't changed. His tactics are similar to Michael Moore's: ambush the subject, edit out what doesn't fit your world view, and present it all in the most self-righteous way possible.

Jerk.

Posted by zombyboy at September 10, 2003 08:00 PM | TrackBack